Richard Nixon and the Watergate scandal

Nixon and Watergate

It was the Presidential Crisis of Richard Nixon, though, that seemed to shape the way the world viewed America in the 1970s. The so-called "Watergate Affair" encompassed a number of secret, and illegal, activities sanctioned by President Nixon or his aids. In brief, Nixon hired some underlings to break into the Democratic Party Headquarters (The Watergate Hotel) on June 17, 1972. They were tasked to gather secret information to be used against the Democrats in the upcoming election. Watergate, however, simply became a symbol of the numerous scandals that were uncovered by reporters from the Washington Post and elsewhere. Nixon, of course, downplayed the scandal, but when tapes of conversations were found, it became clear that Nixon himself had accepted illegal campaign contributions, and had harassed opponents with Presidential powers, and abused his position in office as well as his duty toward the Constitution (Stans 1998).

Nixon continued to deny his involvement, stating to the nation in November, 1973: "People have got to know whether or not their President is a crook. Well, I'm not a crook. I've earned everything I've got" (Kilpatrick 1973). Nevertheless, in May 1974, the Congressional House Judiciary Committee opened public impeachment hearing against President Nixon. Practical to the end, Nixon realized he had lost political and public support, and that it was certain he would be impeached and likely convicted and imprisoned. Instead, he resigned the Presidency on August 9, 2974, after making an impassionate television address to the public. Nixon never admitted to any wrongdoing, but later said he might have had "errors in judgment" (Kutler 1992 167-72).

As a result of Watergate, Nixon was disbarred by the State of New York, and because he would admit no wrongdoing, he resigned all his law licenses. On September 8, 1974, however, he was pardoned unconditionally by his successor, President Gerald Ford, thus ending any possibility of a future indictment. The pardon was, of course, quite controversial and many claimed it was part of a secret deal made in payment for Nixon's resignation (Ford 1974).

Nixon's Early Years- Richard Milhous Nixon was born in Yorba Linda, California. He was raised in a conservative Quaker environment. His childhood was difficult economically, and he lost two of his four brothers before he was 20. After graduating from Whittier High School second in his class he was offered a scholarship to Harvard, but was unable to accept due to fiscal issues not covered by the award. Instead, he went to Whittier College and excelled as Student Body President, debater, and on the college baseball, football and track teams. He received a full scholarship to Duke University School of Law, at the time new and actively recruiting top students from around the country. Scholarship money was reduced year to year, forcing the students into intense competition, upon which Nixon seemed to thrive -- he graduated third in the class in 1937 (Nixon Biography 2008).

Nixon's first choice was to work with the relatively new, but highly visible FBI. Instead, he worked in commercial litigation and personal legal matters, although interestingly refused to work on divorce. He did not enjoy practicing law, but knew he needed to excel in order to achieve any political ambition. During this time he courted a relatively unwilling "Pat" Ryan who, after two years, finally agreed to marry Nixon on June 21, 1940. In January, 1942, the couple moved to Washington, D.C., where Nixon took a federal job at the Office of Price Administration. This job made him exempt from military service; however, Nixon believed in service and was commissioned into the Navy in August 1942. He did not see actual combat, but excelled in numerous administrative jobs, including his work in negotiating the termination of war contracts. Nixon resigned his Naval commission on New Year's Day 1946 (Black 2007).

Nixon as a Cold Warrior- It was during his 1946 election to the House of Representatives representing the 12th Congressional District in California that Nixon became interested in the politics of the Cold War, which continued after being elected to the senate in 1950. It was the 1950 campaign, which was rough and contentious, that Nixon became known as a "Red Warrior." In fact, it was this campaign that Nixon uttered the famous phrase about his opponent, former actress Helen Douglas, in that she was "pink right down to her underwear" -- and thus became known to the world as "Tricky Dicky" (Ibid. 178).

In retrospect, it almost seems that Nixon, from an early political start, was looking for a cause with which to attach his name. The Cold War and Anti-Communism proved to be just that cause. For example, Nixon gained national attention in 1948 when his HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee) broke the Alger Hiss spy case. Central to this case was a witness, Whittaker Chambers, who alleged that Hiss, a State Department official, was a Soviet agent. Many disbelieved Chambers, thinking him someone cloying for media attention. Nixon believed him, however, and the accusations proved true when microfilm documents accessible only to Hiss were discovered in the famous "pumpkin patch." Hiss was convicted of perjury in 1950 and put Nixon into the limelight as a staunch anti-communist and politician unafraid to rock the boat to preserve democracy ((Powers 1998 223-5; Ambrose 1988 179-82).

Nixon was easily reelected and began taking an aggressive position in opposition to the spread of global communism, his view that President Truman was mishandling the Korean War, statehood for Alaska and Hawaii, and in a liberal stance he would continue to follow throughout his political career, civil rights for minorities. He remained opposed to monetary controls, benefits for illegal immigrants, and public power policies. For a young politiican, he proved ot be just the type of person coveted by the Republican Party (Ibid. 224-30). In 1952, General Dwight Eisenhower chose Nixon to be his Vice-Presidential running mate, a position he served from 1953-1961. There did not seem to be a great deal of friendship between the two men, but Eisenhower realized he needed the type of electorate Nixon would bring. In fact, during allegations that Nixon had a secret fund, Nixon responded with his famous "Checker's Speech" in which he went on national television, released his tax returns and told the public that even though his daughters loved their little dog "Checkers," since it had been given as a gift he wanted no taint of scandal and would give the dog back. For the time this uncharacteristically blunt appeal to America via the new medium of television resulted in an increase in support for the Republican Party and aided the Eisenhower (Morris 1990).

Nixon as Vice President- In most cases the role of the Vice-President was neither notable nor particularly important to the Administration. A prime example of this was Harry Truman, who was kept out of the loop about the war effort, the Atomic Bomb program, and several other key elements by the Roosevelt Administration. Instead, Nixon often took the lead role with the media and GOP party politics. For example, Nixon intervened with his role as the President of the Senate to rule on filibusters so that Eisenhower's 1957 Civil Rights Bill, which created the United States Commission on Civil Rights, would pass (A Hold is Broken 1957).

Nixon garnered international attention in two prominent ways during his Vice-Presidency, one of which would serve him well during his own tenure as President. First, trying to garner additional goodwill towards America during the Cold War Nixon flew to Caracas, Venezuela, where he and his motorcade were pelted with rocks and injuring Venezuela's Foreign Minister. Nixon, however, remained calm during the entire event, and was applauded by the international press for his professionalism (Nixon Library). In July, 1959, Nixon flew to Moscow for the American National Exhibition. Prior to his trip he commented to the press, "There is no magic formula which will settle the differences between us, no conferences at the Summit which will dramatically end world tensions. The road to peace is a long and hard one, and if we are to stay on it, both out people and our leaders must display patience and understanding to a maximum degree" (Nixon Visits Russia 1959). It was during this trip that Nixon and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev engaged in a light-hearted debated about the various merits of capitalism and communism, an impromptu exchange known affectionately as "The Kitchen Debates" (Safire 2009). Nixon's handling of the contentious and cranky Khrushchev placed him into the role of an international states man and his nomination as the 1960 Republican candidate for the U.S. Presidency.

The Race for The Presidency, Part 1- In many ways, the 1960 election was a mandate for change, but certainly not a foregone conclusion. Nixon campaigned on his decade of experience, his international acumen, and a plan for economic growth and deficit reduction (the 1950s Cold War had increased the deficit) (Black 266). John F. Kennedy, the young Senator from Massachusetts, asked the country to change direction, bring in new blood, and rethink the "Missile Gap" (Steel 2003). Kennedy won the election by a very narrow margin, 120,000 votes or 0.2% of the electorate. Most historians believe that the primary reason John F. Kennedy won the Presidential Election was because of the non-verbal "poor body language" on the television debate with Richard Nixon in 1960 -- especially valid since radio audiences overwhelmingly voted that Nixon had won the debate. Nixon's body language was furtive, he was perspiring, he looked unshaven, and he did not look at the camera -- Kennedy, on the other hand, was jovial, looked at the camera just as if it were a real person, making the home audience trust and feel like he was talking directly to them (Kennedy - Nixon Debate 2001). Nixon supporters unsuccessfully challenged the votes in Texas, Illinois and 9 others, but after the initial Court battles Nixon conceded in order to avoid a Constitutional Crisis. He and Kennedy met in Florida shortly thereafter where Kennedy offered Nixon a Cabinet post, which Nixon immediately declined (Black 422).

After the loss of the election, Nixon returned to California where he completed a book and lost the 1962 Gubernatorial Election to Pat Brown. After the election he uttered another famous phrase to the press, "You won't have Nixon to kick around anymore because, gentleman, this is my last press conference" (Williams 2007).

Nixon Elected With a New Mandate -- Throughout what the media called, "Nixon's Exile," the GOP turned to him for advice on international affairs and domestic platforms. The 1968 election was more about crime, dissatisfaction within the Democratic Party, and the War in Vietnam. It is likely that Senator Robert Kennedy would have triumphed as the Democratic nominee, but he was assassinated. Instead, Nixon promised "peace with honor" in Vietnam, but had no real public plan, leading the media to assume there was some sort secret deal, but most modern scholars believe it was probably nothing more than an unfounded campaign promise. Of course, given the climate of the time, and the preoccupation towards the war, reporters were grasping at anything possible that might indicate an end to tensions in Southeast Asia (Parmet 1989 116).

Nixon and Vietnam -- One of the reasons Richard Nixon was so paranoid about his hold on power was the public's increasingly hostile stance toward the Vietnam War. The history of the war is complex, but essentially the conflict was fought between South Vietnam (supported by the United States and the Western Powers), and North Vietnam (supported by its communist allies). The war was essentially a guerilla war fought between pro and anti-communist forces. The problem was -- who could tell who was communist and who was not. The United States and its allies entered the war under the pretense of preventing the takeover of South Vietnam as part of a wider strategy to contain communism. Some planners at the time used the analogy "the domino effect" to describe what they believed would happen if one country after another fell to community rule. An example of what was predicted was elaborated on by President Eisenhower as early as 1954:

Finally, you have broader considerations that might follow what you would call the "falling domino" principle. You have a row of dominoes set up, you knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is the certainty that it will go over very quickly. So you could have a beginning of a disintegration that would have the most profound influences (Eisenhower 1954).

Culturally, though, the effects on the U.S. social fabric were great. The Army became relatively demoralized, some generals saying, we never knew our friends or our enemies. Tactics became a political basketball, and the success rate was low even at the best of times. Veterans returning to the U.S. after duty were rarely honored, and felt alienated from their country and confused as to why they had even been in Vietnam. Further, even Henry Kissinger noted that the U.S. military was not really suited to this kind of war (Kissinger 1975).Similarly, the political wavering of policy on the War called political judgment into question; doubts were rife about the tactics, and ever decision was scrutinized on the nightly news, with most Americans feeling that they simply did not belong there. More than anything, the Vietnam War emphasized what was wrong on the home front, and that a superpower was not always a superpower -- tremendous

The Watergate Affair -- Ironically, it was not a major policy issue (China, Vietnam, Civil Rights, etc.) that brought down the Nixon White House, or established a basis for his legacy. Instead, it was a bungled burglary by some ex-CIA agents and a series of lies, misinformation, and realization that an American President considered himself above the law.

Essentially, the Watergate Affair was quite simple: Five men broke into Democratic National Committee Headquarters at the Watergate Hotel Complex on June 17, 1972. The FBI was able to connect the hiring of the burglars to a slush fund used by the 1972 Committee to Re-Elect The President, a Republican fund of dubious uses and sources. Based on the initial evidence and target of the burglary, Trial Judge in the case, John Sirica, suspected a conspiracy involving higher placed governmental officials. One of the accused, James McCord, wrote a letter to Sirica, claiming that he was under political pressure to plead guilty in order to protect higher governmental officials. In his letter, he implicated former Attorney General John Mitchell and others, thus elevating the affair into a national political scandal (Dash 1976 30).

Further investigation followed; a $25,000 check for the Nixon re-election campaign was found in one of the brugerlys homes; in September 1972 investigators found that Mitchell controlled an intelligence fund used to gather information on the Democrats; on October 10, the FBI reported that the Watergate break-in was likely a part of a massive campaign of political spying and sabotage. However, this did nothing to prevent Nixon from being re-elected. It was through the investigation by the media, most notably Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of the Washington Post that there were cover-ups within cover-ups, secret tapes the President kept, illegial dispositions of campaign funds designed for covert action against American citizens, and ultimately the indictment and subsequent prison sentence of two influential aids, H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, and the dismissal of White House Counsel John Dean, who went on to testify to the Senate against Nixon (Watergate Scandal 1973).

In retrospect, there were really two things that caused Watergate to end Nixon's presidency: The source, code named "Deep Throat," and the "Smoking Gun Tape." Once it became known in the Washington area that Bernstein and Woodward were investigating the President, the reporters were contacted and fed information that would lead them to people and documents that would help uncover a web of conspiracy and allow confirmation of what the investigators already suspected. Although Deep Throat's identity was kept secret for many years, in 2005 the reporters revealed that he was former FBI Deputy Directory Mark Fell, who died in 2008 (Weiner 2008). The second issue that was a death knoll for Nixon was his continual denial that anyone in the White House had any knolwedge of the break-ins or any of the suspects. Instead, on August 5, 1974 a tape from June 23, 1972 indicated that Nixon and Haldeman had a conversation about the burglery and how it would need to be spun to throw off the FBI. Other indications from the tape proved that the President had lied to the nation, to his aides, laywers, and to Congress, for more than two yeas (Bernstein and Woodward 1976 390).

Facing probably impeachment and perhaps even jail time, Nixon agreed that the best possible course personally and professional was to resign as quickly as possible, let the natuion heal and help I return to normalcy.

The Resignation Speech -- In review of the Resignation Speech of President Richard Nixon, one finds a complicated set of emotions running through the speech, as well as the commentary afterwards. Overall, the speech had a great deal of emotion, making the audience feel two ways about the President. The emotion was real -- it was a sad moment for most Americans to see their President in such a mode; sad, depressed, and for the first time in modern history, resigning. But this was coupled with the months and months of news coverage that portrayed the President as an evil criminal, even to the point that he expressed, in a Press Conference, "People want to know their President is not a crook, well, I am not a crook."

However, looking at the events, as well as the speech, objectively, one can truly empathize with both sides of the argument: that the President was guilty of high crimes and therefore should leave office, or, that the President acted in the best way he could and misjudged the consequences. It is likely, though, that both extremes were tempered with a large percentage of people who had mixed feelings about the events. It was almost certain to most Americans that President Nixon acted incorrectly and abused his presidential authority; however, the news media brought the President into the living rooms of many Americans who could see him as a person who was emotionally distraught. Then too, one needs to look at the very emotionality of the country losing a President through resignation -- many felt that if the President were not-guilty, then he would not have resigned (Nixon 1974).